Neurotransmitter test

Has anyone heard or had experience of doing a neurotransmitter test??? I just read something on this the other day. I guess it supposedly measures the levels of dopamine, serotonin, etc.
Is this a real (valid) thing??? Does it give results?

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I haven’t heard of it but
If that’s a thing, most of us would probably frickin benefit lots. I’d like to know where my brain chems are at so can be fixed. Gonna look it up now and have a word with my doc, if this is real, I want words haha

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I Googled it and mostly found pretty dubious-looking sites and this one:

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/bogus-diagnostic-tests/

" Moreover, even if the test results are technically accurate, I’m aware of no science that links them to non-optimal levels of hormones or neurotransmitters, other than in extreme cases such as pan-hypopituitarism or pheochromocytoma (which are quite different from what NeuroScience is claiming). Nor, even if the tests were entirely legitimate, is there any evidence that the proposed treatments will “optimize” neurotransmitter or hormone levels."

It’s from 2010, but based on not having heard of this before, I’d assume it’s a bogus test until someone shows me it isn’t.

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@anon9798425, grr, I guess it is one of those things that “if it sounds to good to be true, then it probably is”.
I wish it was valid. It would help people like us tremendously.

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I’m pumping my brain with 15 mg Ritalin and still can’t get out of bed. Go dopamine. I’m afraid if I take more I’ll hallucinate

I’ve had such a test. It involves a sputum swipe. It tells you if you are on the right med or, if you’re not, it tells you what med to try. Perfectly foolproof. Ask your pdoc to look into it.

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I think there’s one that involves a radiotracer and a PET scan. Which as far as I know is legit and is used in research, but is not used to help determine treatment. Probably because we don’t have that much in the way of region selective meds, so even if you knew there’s too little serotonin there, and too much glutamate there, and too little dopamine here but too much there, you wouldn’t be able to determine what med to take that way. AFAIK.

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There are no tests available to measure brain neurotransmitter levels in the clinic*. Researchers sometimes collect spinal fluid by a spinal tap, but this does not necessarily measure brain levels and it is not available to clinicians. There are some imaging tests that can give approximate numbers, but these are research studies and not used in clinical medicine.

That idea of low and high neurotransmitter levels as a cause of mental disorders is appealing but not precise. Direct measures of brain neurotransmitter levels is impossible with existing technology and probably wouldn’t help much in diagnosis and treatment if available.

*Blood tests are occasionally done for epinephrine and norepinephrine, but not normally for serotonin, dopamine, glutamate and others.

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